This blog Haiti Solutions supports the growth of political and economic freedom, good governance and human rights in Haiti by educating Haitian citizens, parties and governments on the values and practices of democracy.

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light

Mwen se echantiyon yon ras kap boujonnen men ki poko donnen

Si vous voulez vous faire des ennemis essayer de changer les choses

Thursday, November 9, 2017

According to article 60 of the agreement
signed with the United Nations and Haiti’s Executive Branch, the new U.N.
mission in Haiti will have legal status when parliament ratifies the agreement.
On October 23, Président Jovenel Moïse called both chambers in a special
session for the ratification of the agreement.

But in parliament they are reticent to ratify
the agreement for the following reasons :

1. There is a perception that the current
Secretary General M. Antonio Gutteres is not forthcoming with the 9,000
families that have lost loved ones in the cholera epidemic caused by the UN.
They have formally promised to pay raparations to them and nothing has been
done. The Secretary General could have use the $40 million left over from the
MINUSTAH budget to start the process while trying to find resources to fulfill
his commitment. President Jovenel Moise in his speech in September 2017 at the
72nd General Assembly raised the issue but nobody paid attention.

2. The U.N. also did not fulfill its promise
to provide financial assistance to Haitians to eradicate cholera.

3. Parliamentarians are also under pressure
from their constituencies for the rapes committed by U.N soldiers commited
against children, men and women and the manner in which they should have been
held accountable.

4. The fact that a career employee of the
U.N., Mamadou Diallo, pushed for the official inauguration of the mission
without parliament’s prior approval has caused some serious political damages –
and undermines Haitian institutions. How can a mission that is coming to help
Haiti’s judicial reforms and the strengthening of institutions does not respect
the constitution, the laws, the institutions of the country ? Or the articles
of the agreement they have signed? Contrary to 2004, there is all three
branches of government in place in 2017. These are the questions the
parliamentarians are grappling with.

5. The fact that the U.N. is ignoring the
formation of Haiti’s New Defense force has also struck a chord among Haitians.
This is one of the top three issues important to the country according to
various polls. The U.N. military commander in Haiti, Brazilian General Elito,
has stated that the country needed an army to provide security and react
against the various threats.

6. The consensue emerging is that if
parliamentarian touch this agreement without any effort to address these
ongoing issues, they will surely lose their next election, particulary those 10
senators who’s two years term expires on January 8, 2018.

The recent cooperation between Haiti and the
U.N. through MINUSTAH has not been good. That mission has left a bad taste in
the mouth of Haitians who fought for five years to force the U.N., with
scientific proof, to admit that their soldiers were the source of the cholera
epidemic. The country wants better cooperation with the U.N. Concrete actions
from U.N. leadership is expected before moving forward. The editorial written
by the Secretary General in the Miami Herald, while in good faith, was not
written for Haitians and doesn’t move the ball forward in any way. Only
concrete actions by the leadership of the U.N. will help them win hearts and
minds in Haiti. The country deserves better.

13 fire fighters from Haiti led by Chief Ardouin Zephirin arrived in Rockville for two weeks of fire and rescue training at Montgomery County Fire Rescue Training Academy http://www.rockvilleliving.com/blog/entries/2009_05_firefighters_from_haiti

Stanley Lucas and Richard R. Bowers, Jr, Chief of the Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS